(1) This code must be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are:
(a) to simplify, clarify, and modernize the law governing commercial transactions;
(b) to permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage, and agreement of the parties;
(c) to make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.
(2) In this code unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) words in the singular number include the plural, and in the plural include the singular;
(b) words of the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter, and when the sense so indicates words of the neuter gender may refer to any gender.